Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

What Would the Ancestors Say?
Margaret Kimberley, BAR editor and senior columnist
14 Nov 2012
🖨️ Print Article

 

by Raymond Nat Turner

Baptist, baritone strains:

"I've been to the mountaintop,

But this is not the mountaintop”

 

What Would the Ancestors Say?

by Raymond Nat Turner

 

I know

I know

I know...

Harriet Tubman didn't slide

In and out of the slave south

Nineteen times, $40,000 reward

Hanging over her head like a

Scimitar, or Samurai sword;

Medgar didn't die in his driveway

Like a dog put down in the pound;

Malcolm didn't die on floor

Of the Audubon Ballroom;

King didn't die on chitlin' curcuit

Balcony of the Lorraine Motel;

Fred didn't die in his bed, under

Hooves of Chicago death squads

For tomfoolery---nappy-headed

Foolishness--- Negroz shrinking

To plantation Rip Van Winkles

Hung over on Ol' Massa's

Jim Jones Juice (January '09)

The eve of world revolution...

 

I know

I know

I know...

She would be leveling her pistol,

Leaving at least a half dozen dead

Negroz, after commanding "Forward,

Or die!"

 

I know

I know

I know...

He would be tongue-lashing

Negroz with his Harlem-tinged

Tough love: "You've been had,

You've been took, you've been

Hoodwinked, you've been bamboozled!"

 

I know

I know

I know...

He would be intoning in African,

Baptist, baritone strains:

"I've been to the mountaintop,

But this is not the mountaintop,

No, and I'm concerned that if you

Continue traversing this treacherous

Trail you're on, during the dark and

Difficult days ahead, not only will you

Not get to the mountaintop, you will

Find yourselves descending to depths

So low that it will require you taking an

Elevator up eighty-six floors; climbing

Forty flights of stairs to a sub cellar of

Sin, standing on a step ladder on your

Tiptoes, just to suck the Devil's dick---

 

No, I'm afraid I can't be your drum

Major on this one---

The drones must be stopped,

The satanic wars ceased, and

The barbaric killing of other peoples'

Babies ended---forever..."

Raymond Nat Turner (c) 2012 All Rights Reserved

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • Health Justice and Black Liberation: Dr. Angel Love Miles
    Gwendolyn Wallace and Roberto Sirvent 
    Health Justice and Black Liberation: Dr. Angel Love Miles
    21 Oct 2020
    Health and disability are interrelated and distinctive social categories that have significant implications for the black community.
  • Savannah, the Afro-Fetish-City
    David Pleasant
    Savannah, the Afro-Fetish-City
    21 Oct 2020
    The African Exposition at the Savannah Riverside Plant “is one of the most intense examples of fetishization, colonialism, exoticism, and dehumanization” the author has ever scene.
  • Liberals and Fascists Both Love Capitalism
    Margaret Flowers
    Liberals and Fascists Both Love Capitalism
    21 Oct 2020
    It is important to look at the bigger picture lest we focus on the wrong issue and play into the hands of the ruling class.
  • Trump’s Looting of CITGO Punishes Low-Income People in Venezuela and US
    Yoav Elinevsky
    Trump’s Looting of CITGO Punishes Low-Income People in Venezuela and US
    21 Oct 2020
    The sanctions on Venezuela are also hurting some two million low-income Americans who used to receive free heating oil from CITGO.
  • Nigeria SARS Protests: Amnesty Warns of “Escalating Attacks” 
    BBC staff
    Nigeria SARS Protests: Amnesty Warns of “Escalating Attacks” 
    21 Oct 2020
    Protests mount against Africa’s most populous nation’s most feared police unit, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us